Unit Synopsis
This unit offers you an introduction to the principles and practice of chiropractic, within the context of the Australian health care system. The overall structure of the Foundations of Chiropractic Practice 1 unit covers integrated material on topics to prepare you for progressively more complex health-related units in the course. As such, it commences with etymology (medical terminology); basic musculoskeletal assessment protocols; postural observation and analysis; movement (active and passive ranges of motion); psychomotor palpation skills to spinal and peripheral anatomy landmarks; elementary biomechanics; history of manipulation and founding philosophical principles of chiropractic.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Co-requisite: BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 Or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1 Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. On-campus Activity | 0% |
| 2. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | 60% |
| 3. In-class Test(s) | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 19.51% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student Verbal Feedback
Students enjoyed having the new Anatomage table in the classroom to explore anatomy while learning new examination skills.
It is recommended to continue incorporating the Anatomage table into the practical skills lab learning experience.
The Anatomage table was incorporated into the practical skills lab learning experience.
Source: SUTE
Students reported enjoying the mix of academic and clinical tutors in the room.
It is recommended that the discipline continue to employ a mix of staff in practical classes to support students.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Define the principles and practice of chiropractic and discuss how philosophical chiropractic approaches are applied in a modern health paradigm
- Describe biomechanical principles relevant to chiropractic practice
- Perform and interpret musculoskeletal assessment tasks using postural observation, range of motion measurements and static palpation of spinal and axial landmarks.
Not applicable
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - On-campus Activity | • | • | • |
| 2 - Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | • | ||
| 3 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | |
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |